1, 2... or 3?

[cainey]

I've recently upgraded to the spec below and have a question about which graphics card to upgrade to next (Currently using a BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3). I'll be using it mostly for gaming and photo/video editing.

Apologies if the following question sounds stupid. I was thinking about running 2 Geforce 470 in SLI and maybe go for a 3rd one next month or should I just go for a single 480 and maybe get another to run in SLI in a month or so?

Obviously the more I add the more power I'll need so the 600w PSU would have to be upgraded too I guess.

So are 2 470's better than 1 480?
and are 3 470's better than 2 480's?

Krypton Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz @ 4.00GHz Overclocked Bundle
Corsair H50-1 High-Performance CPU Watercooler
Corsair XMS3 (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Asus P6X58D-E Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA-II
Coolermaster Storm Sniper Case

 

[R088ieS86]

not everyone agrees, but its better to stick with a single card where possible.
600W wouldn't be enough to power 2x480s or 2x470s for that matter.
you'd need a very high power PSU for 2x480s, most people run them off 1000W +
i'd get 1x GTX 480 if you have your set on a Nvidia card.
Add a 480 later, or wait to see if a better revision comes out.

 

[Temi_D]

What resolution are you gaming at? Have you considered 2 x 460s in sli? You can run that without upgrading your PSU

 

[TheCenturion]

So are 2 470's better than 1 480?
and are 3 470's better than 2 480's?

1. Yes
2. No

Tri SLI is hardly worth it because the fps gains over SLI are minimal. But yes, get the best single card that you can. that's the best thing to do.

 

[Mr Krugga]

Get two GeForce 460s if you want to stick with Nvidia.

 

[cainey]

My original plan when I was upgrading was 2 460's but started to look at the 470's and 480's and got carried away.

Resolution-wise it'll be 1680x1050 at the moment until I upgrade the monitor to a 24" then 1920x1080.

After doing a bit of digging on google benchmarks seem to suggest 2 460's out-perform a single 480 so that looks like a good plan. Leaves me some money for a nice sound card too.